Accelerating global expansion of the digital textile printing business

Tokyo, Japan – Seiko Epson Corporation has opened a new textile solutions center called "TSC Asia" at its Fujimi Plant in Nagano prefecture. Designed to accelerate the global expansion of the digital textile printing business, TSC Asia is equipped to handle every step in the textile printing process, including textile pre- and post-treatment.

Like the Epson Group's Textile Solutions Center operating in Como, Italy, since 2014, TSC Asia supports digital textile printing by conducting research and development and by using actual textile printers to produce samples for customers in Japan and throughout Asia.

Epson was among the first inkjet printer manufacturers to put its inkjet technology to use in digital textile printing. And, joined by its Italian subsidiaries For.Tex S.r.l. and Fratelli Robustelli S.r.l., Epson has been researching and developing digital textile printing as well as producing the Monna Lisa series of inkjet digital textile printers.

Epson is currently strengthening its production and sales organizations to position it to provide products and services globally from both Japan and Italy. Epson started producing some models in the Monna Lisa series in 2018 at its Hirooka Plant in Nagano prefecture, Japan. The company will be expanding its prototyping and volume production operations for large industrial printers, including the Monna Lisa series, with the completion of a new facility in Hirooka, Innovation Center Building B, at the end of March 2020. In 2019, Epson will begin selling these products through its global sales network, which will also offer enhanced customer proposals and broader support.

TSC Asia opened prior to the completion of Building B in order to respond to growing demand from Asia.

"I am pleased that we can now fully support the introduction and use of digital textile printing by an even larger audience thanks to the establishment of TSC Asia," said Koichi Kubota, Representative Director, Senior Managing Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Seiko Epson's Printing Solutions Operations Division. "We will contribute to the development of digitization in the textile field with Epson's inkjet technology and will make Epson indispensable for the textile world."

Commercial and industrial printing, including digital textile printing, are one of the strategic areas of focus cited in the company's long-term corporate vision, Epson 25. Epson will broaden the world of digital printing in these areas, further accelerating innovation with inkjet technology.

Profile of TSC Asia

Name: TSC Asia
Opening date: June 2019
Total floor space: Approx. 1,000 m²
Investment: Approx. 300 million yen

Profile of the Fujimi Plant

Address: 281 Fujimi, Fujimi-machi, Suwa-gun, Nagano prefecture, Japan 399-0293
Operations: Semiconductor operations, sensing devices operations, research & development, production technology development
Lot size: 247,143 m²
Start of operations: 1980